Cannot cancel a contract signed by a minor
Complaint
Jess Balansky
Country: United States
My 17 year-old daughter and her friends went to Bally Fitness Center. They had trial pass with them, but the employee talked them into signing a contract. When she said that she is only 17 and will be 18 in a few months, the employee changed her date of birth in the contract and said is not a problem.
When I discovered they signed the papers, I contacted the corporate office and requested that her membership with Bally Fitness Center be canceled because it was signed by a minor without parent's approval.
They responded that the contract will be canceled as soon as they have a copy of her birth certificate. I promptly sent the documents via registered mail. At the time we already started getting non-payment notices from Bally Fitness Center.
The calls from collection agency stopped for a few months but resumed again a month ago. We assumed that the contract has been canceled but apparently it was not.
I am not sure what to do as I already contacted our local attorney general, the corporate office, and FTC. They use deceptive practices to get people into signing a contract and I only hope that other people who read this will be aware of the way they conduct business.
When I discovered they signed the papers, I contacted the corporate office and requested that her membership with Bally Fitness Center be canceled because it was signed by a minor without parent's approval.
They responded that the contract will be canceled as soon as they have a copy of her birth certificate. I promptly sent the documents via registered mail. At the time we already started getting non-payment notices from Bally Fitness Center.
The calls from collection agency stopped for a few months but resumed again a month ago. We assumed that the contract has been canceled but apparently it was not.
I am not sure what to do as I already contacted our local attorney general, the corporate office, and FTC. They use deceptive practices to get people into signing a contract and I only hope that other people who read this will be aware of the way they conduct business.
Comments
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/02/perimeter-cmp.htm
Here is the settlement agreement:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/02/perimeter.htm
Here is a report that Bally's sloppy handling of customer SSNs gave access to those SSNs to employees, resulting in an Al Qaeda operative selling them for use in obtaining false passports and opening fraudulent credit accounts.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/infoflows/comments/epic.pdf
Settlement with SEC:
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2008/lr20470.htm
Overview of some of their history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Total_Fitness
How about your high-pressure bull*hit when people want to actually pay off their contracts or even transfer their membership? Bally's makes it so damn hard to do any simple little transaction. For example, why the hell do you need someone to pay off their membership before transfering? The new person's still on the hook to pay a monthly fee, aren't they? Everything Bally's does is shady, and you damn well know it.
That is why it is called a "confidence game".
Is someone going to do anything about it?
1) renewing me without my authorization and continuing to deduct from my credit card,
2) then, if they do #1 above, and I make every effort, will Bally's send me to collections from the time I pay off my balance to - I don't know, let's say - years and years later claiming I owe them something, despite cancelling and paying in full.
Sometimes I want to beat the crap out of someone, but who the fuc* am I going to do it to.
Does anyone want to file a class action, or whatever, some kind of lawsuit against them?
They spent money painting the workout rooms but not the broken, rusty lockers or fix the toilets.
The other Bally at Keystone and the Crossing is worse! I know that Bally is going into bankruptcy again (twice in 2008) but who would want to buy Bally when it looks like junk inside.
20 days for a contract of $1500-$2000
30 days for $2001-$2500
45 days for $2501-$3000
Anything else below or above those amounts, I'm not sure. Mine was somewhere slightly less than the $1500 mark because of the promotion.
I joined yesterday for the 'no enrollment fee, $29.99/mo. with no long term commitment'. The man in charge of my contract gave me a 36 month contract. He rushed me through all the paperwork and had me sign right away. Then he kept me busy by asigning a personal trainer to talk some stuff over.
I saw all these complaints this morning. That's what made me take a better look at my contract. I rushed back today to get this fixed. The original contract was confiscated. They said they needed everything back. They said they couldn't just rip it up. That it was sent to the corporate office. But they could refund and redo another. I asked for a confirmation that I was getting my refund. They said they could not provide that for me. Instead, they charged me double for a second contract, but only with a two month term.
I'm definitely going to send my own certified cancellation letter asap! I'm still within my five day window.
I wonder, should I just get rid of the renewed contract I have now? It's automatic deduction from my credit card. There were no other options.
I can only imagine what'll happen when I cancel this one later. Will I be continually charged and ignored like all these other folks?
So sorry but you are a LIAR. You have no idea what you are talking about. No corporate office would allow you to spout your line of BS.
Bally's is no better than the Sub-Prime bankers that loaned money to people that should never have received a loan in the first place. If they truly were a "Customer Oriented" business they would at the very least allow customers to present their case for cancellation. As the Economy worsens I surely do hope that Ballys goes out of business as they are fleecing people that had hoped to fulfill a personal goal but for, in many cases, most people they just cannot afford it any longer. Some are working 2 and 3 jobs or none at all. So how do you continue to pay for a health club membership? In my book if I have to eat or go to the gym, I think my hunger would win that one.
Also, it can only be reported on your credit reports for at most 7 years after the first date of delinquency, so that time period has also passed, If they illegally put it on your credit reports, or threaten to do so, you can sue them.
Dredging up this garbage 15 years later sounds like they sold off a bunch of their old records in their recent bankruptcy. The collection agency knows it is mostly junk, they probably paid only pennies on the dollar, and may not even have any access to original records, which would explain why they tried to send you back to Bally's to do their job for them.
They may even know the account was closed due to the contract termination clause, but thought they could con you into paying them anyway. If so, they would avoid sending you anything that might prove you don't owe anything, hoping to wear you down with harassment to extort payment.
Just send the collection agency a letter, certified return receipt requested, indicating you dispute the debt, and requesting that they send proof you owe it. If they dredge up anything, which would show how old this is, or at least that you are the correct debtor, check that SOL has passed and send them a notice that you dispute the debt in its entirety, statute of limitations has passed, and demand they "cease communications".
If they harass you further, file a complaint with FTC, your state Attorney General, and find an attorney to sue them for violation of FDCPA.
Mt prospect, IL
I've upgraded my account twice since I first signed up in December of '07. Every time I upgrade, a new contract is made and it's a new 3-year contract that I have to sign and the 3 years is reset from the day I upgraded.
So why don't you just upgrade again, since it's a new contract, then cancel within the 3-day buyer remorse as listed on the third page. This way, you old contract is canceled and so it your upgraded. HAS THIS EVER WORKED FOR ANYONE???